TEENAGERS from Wirral are using graffiti art to warn other young people about the devastating effects of knife crime.

Members of Fender Youth Club, in Woodchurch, applied for a £5,000 Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF) grant to coordinate a powerful campaign called “Re . . . Act”.

The campaign to fight knife crime came as a response to the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Joseph Lappin outside a youth centre in Liverpool, in 2008.

James Malpeli, 16, from Moreton, said: “We felt that there was a danger of knife crime moving into Wirral, so we applied for a Government grant to let young people know the hard facts about carrying a knife – how it can affect your family, your health and even result in a prison sentence.”

As part of the project, the young people also delivered workshops on knife crime at Woodchurch Secondary School.

James said: “When we went into the secondary schoo, everyone said they knew someone who had carried a knife, which shows what a big problem it is.”

The teens worked with local graffiti artist Gary King, and the art is then photographed and used as part of knife crime posters.